[Pipet Devel] Thomas Junier joins!

[J.W. Bizzaro]

Thomas Junier wrote:
> 
> As a matter of fact, you piqued my curiosity and now I'm itching to learn some
> Python. :-)

It really is a nice language to work with and has become very popular.  The
Python home page has a tutorial and other documentation on Python:

    http://www.python.org/

If you like the old ink-on-paper approach, I highly recommend this book:

    Mark Lutz and David Ascher
    Learning Python
    O'Reilly, 1999
    ISBN 1-56592-464-9

You'll also find some links about learning Python with the Gtk+/Gnome GUI widget
set at our PyG Tools page:

    http://bioinformatics.org/pygtools/

If you have any questions about Python, I'd be glad to help...although I'm not
an expert.

> > Regarding language, as long as a "translator" can connect to CORBA, the
> > language shouldn't matter.  If we use SEView (or a derivative), we will have to
> > work these object models into it.
> 
> I see - although I've no idea of how much work that would imply...

We'll find out along the way, but it's our best bet for a universal,
language-independent connection between components.  So, if someone says, "Eh, I
perfer Perl", then they can use Perl.  Right now it seems the number of
languages used for new development, especially for Linux, is NOT consolidating
but rather expanding.  Here, for example, are the languages for which Gtk+
bindings exist:

      Ada95
      C++
      Dylan
      Eiffel
      Guile
      Haskell
      JavaScript
      Objective C
      Objective Caml
      Objective Label
      Pascal
      Perl
      Pike
      Python
      TOM

Pretty impressive.  And that doesn't include C, Java, FORTRAN, F, and others
that people may want to program in.  Can we possibly convince them all to switch
to Python?  Would it be easier to get them to switch or to get them to use
CORBA?

> So, I'll gladly join, but I still need some info as to what I should do, and
> you folks will have to be patient while I learn all the new things. :-)

Great!  Well, we're working at a snail's pace here, so don't get impatient;
you'll have plenty of time to learn some new things.  It may be best to look
into CORBA for now, but we don't have a plan laid out yet for implementing it. 
I just sent this link to the list about some ORBit (C-based CORBA)
documentation, if you want to check it out:

    http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Users/birney/orbit-html/book1.htm

> > I can also make an account for you on our server.
> 
> Ok, fine

I'll get back to you about that.


Cheers.
Jeff
-- 
                   +------------------------------------+
                   |                                    |
                   |           J.W. Bizzaro             |
                   |      jeff at bioinformatics.org       |
                   |                                    |
                   |       THE OPEN COLLABORATORY       |
                   |    FOR MOLECULAR BIOINFORMATICS    |
                   |                                    |
                   |     http://bioinformatics.org/     |
                   |                                    |
                   +------------------------------------+